Max Chilton Tops Final Full Day of Practice Before Indy 500 Begins

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British driver Max Chilton topped out the final full day of practice for the Indy 500 at Indianapolis, as McLaren superstar Fernando Alonso struggled in traffic but still ended the day a respectable P12.

Now the preparations are drawing to a close and the grid has been set for the 101st running of the Indy 500, the teams and drivers are looking to make their final changes in advance of the green flag dropping for the greatest spectacle in American motorsports.

With eight full days of practice and qualifying behind the 33 strong field of drivers, it was left to former Formula One driver and Englishman Max Chilton to top out the times at Indy, setting a blistering 228.592 mph lap to ease himself ahead of Ed Jones in the Dale Coyne Racing entry, regrouping following the horrendous accident that befell one of the pre race favourites Sebastian Bourdais earlier in the week.

With an unusual mix of Chilton and Jones at the top of the field today it was left to polesitter Scott Dixon and defending IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud to top out the regular pace setting drivers in positons three and four, clocking speeds of 227.165 and 226.997 respectively.

For his part on loan McLaren driver Fernando Alonso had a relatively trouble free day of running, clocking 122 laps of running and setting a time suitable for twelfth position in the final rankings. Alonso spent much of his running gaining valuable experience racing in packs of cars.

The drivers will get a final 1 hour of track time on Friday for 'Carb Day' before the race begins on Sunday 28th May.

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He's done a pretty good job so far. 15th was not a bad performance although of course not on a par with his more illustrious team mates but apparently gave some good feedback to help the pair of them in their quali runs.